Category: American Empire

Here is a quick overview on this 17th day of Trump’s war with Iran.

• Cost of war — it was estimated that in the first 6 days of the war, it cost the U.S. nearly $2 Billion a day. The Pentagon reported that the first week cost us $11.3 Billions, not counting the expenses of the build-up. Tomahawk cruise missiles, like the one the U.S. military used in that deadly strike on an Iranian girls’ primary school, cost $2.2 million each. It may be worth keeping these figures in mind as the Trump administration argues it doesn’t have enough money to make health care more affordable.
• Cost of gas — since the war started on Feb. 28, the average cost of gas has risen 25%; the cost of oil 40%.
• The war is unpopular with Americans; only 1 in 4 support it. A good portion of the MAGA base is seething over the war, since their guy ran against “endless wars.”

From The Washington Post / March 11, 2026

The Iranian elementary school building where scores of children were killed as the U.S. and Israel began their massive aerial campaign was on a U.S. target list and may have been mistaken for a military site, multiple people familiar with the strike told The Washington Post.

The deadly attack occurred in the first few hours of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran — just as parents were hurrying to the two-story schoolhouse to take their kids home to safety — and killed at least 175 people, many of them children, according to Iranian state media.

It is still not clear why the building was hit, but one person familiar with the school strike said the building had been identified as a factory and had been an approved strike target. A second person familiar said there was an arms depot target located in the same area and did not know if the United States hit the school by mistake, or if U.S. officials had the wrong intelligence and thought the building was the arms depot.

“Initially there was some confusion on why it was on the target list,” said a third person familiar with the strike. The individual would not go into further detail, citing the military’s ongoing investigation into the strike.

No one still knows  why these 4 American servicemembers had to die. Trump doesn’t know. Hegsleth doesn’t know. Rubio doesn’t know.

They were killed in an Iranian drone strike on Sunday, March 1.

Yet, here they are – as the Pentagon has identified them of the six US service members who have died. The multiple reasons that Trump and gang have given for attacking Iran since it all began have varied with the time of day and night. From “regime change” to wiping out missiles they don’t have, or to making the first strike before they did ….Trump still hasn’t addressed the nation on the widening war. 

CNN:

The soldiers are Capt. Cody Khork, 35; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20. All four were assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, an Army Reserve sustainment unit out of Iowa.

The two other soldiers who were killed in the strike on Sunday have not yet been identified.

CNN first reported that the suspected drone strike hit a temporary tactical operations center at the port of Shuaiba in Kuwait on Sunday. At the time of their deaths the soldiers were serving with 1st Theater Sustainment Command.

A source familiar with the situation described the operation center as a triple-wide trailer with office space inside; the building was surrounded by concrete barriers that are typically used to protect military structures overseas from things like car bombs and improvised explosive devices. However, there was nothing overhead that could shield the building from drones or missiles.

The outbreak of conflict between Israel and the United States against Iran, triggered by joint US-Israeli strikes across Iran, has drawn frantic calls for calm as deep consternation spreads across globe.

Criticism has mounted against Washington for taking part in the attacks while still engaged in nuclear negotiations with Tehran. Anger has also surfaced in Gulf states caught up in the conflict, as Iran launches retaliatory missile strikes against US military assets hosted on their soil.

Here is a breakdown of how countries and institutions are responding:

Israel

A senior Israeli defence official told the Reuters news agency the joint US-Israeli attacks had been planned for months, with a specific date set weeks ago. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed the attacks aimed to remove an “existential threat” posed by Iran. He said the attacks would “create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their fate into their own hands”.

Iran

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Israel and the US of violating the United Nations charter with their attacks and pledged a harsh response, as the country waged retaliatory attacks on Israel as well as in several Gulf states that host US military assets, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait. “All American and Israeli assets and interests in the Middle East have become a legitimate target,” a senior Iranian official told Al Jazeera. “There are no red lines after this aggression.”

No Serious Justification For War Given by White House

In an illegal war move, Trump has attacked Iran today, Saturday, Feb. 28, without any valid justification given to the American people and without Congressional knowledge or authorization. Congressional Democrats and at least one Republican have condemned the action and are calling for a War Powers vote.

Multiple targets in Iran have been hit, including one girls’ school where over 50 students were killed.

The US attack have been joined by Israel whose strikes targeted Iran’s supreme leader, president and head of the armed forces.

Trump calls for regime change, and described the US military campaign as “massive and ongoing,” and warned American lives may be lost. He also called on Iranians to “take over your government.”

Iran retaliates: Iran launched an unprecedented wave of strikes toward Israel and US targets across the Middle East. Explosions were reported in the UAE, Qatar, Dubai and Bahrain.

By Erwin Chemerinsky / Los Angeles Times Op-Ed / Feb. 20, 2026

The Supreme Court’s decision invalidating President Trump’s tariffs sends a clear and crucial message: The justices will not be a simple rubber stamp approving presidential actions. In the first year of Trump’s new term, 24 challenges to presidential actions came to the court, almost all on its emergency docket. In 22, the justices ruled in favor of the president. But Friday’s 6-3 decision striking down his tariffs is a huge victory for separation of powers and the rule of law.

The importance of tariffs to Trump, and their consequences for the world, cannot be overstated. The president said that their invalidation “would be a total disaster for the country” and “would literally destroy the United States of America.” In its petition to the Supreme Court, Solicitor Gen. D. John Sauer said “the tariffs are promoting peace and unprecedented economic prosperity” and “pulling America back from the precipice of disaster, restoring respect and standing in the world.”

Trump has treated tariffs as something he can impose or rescind at will. But not anymore.

Marimar Martinez is the Chicago woman who was shot 5 times by an ICE agent back in October 2025 and who lived to testify about it before a Congressional committee last week.

Because her testimony was edited by every news network and effectively back paged for lack of a better term, we here quote verbatim Marimar Martinez’ testimony before Congress in it’s entirety, just weeks after getting shot 5 times and leaving 7 bullet holes by ICE. This is the testimony that should have been heard by every American and heard around the world. Marimar Martinez testimony should have dominated the news cycle last week:

To the Rag reader who sent us the following, “Marimar is strength and love personified. This is what courage looks like, and she is an example for us all.”

[00:00:00:30 – 00:00:01:57]

Thank you for having me here.

[00:00:02:57 – 00:00:13:55]

Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to express my gratitude. Thank you, Chairman, for giving me the opportunity to be here today, for taking the time to hear my testimony.

By Frank Gormlie

Ever since armed ICE agents shot and killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis within a two week period this year, the mood of much of the country has turned against ICE and its enabler Donald Trump. Both Good and Pretti were acting objectively in protest of the masked, deadly agents terrorizing neighborhoods in the Twin Cities area.

Yet, this tragedy is not the first time armed agents shot and killed protesters in America. In early May of 1970, in the midst of college students nation-wide demonstrating against President Richard Nixon’s expansion of the Vietnam war with his invasion of Cambodia, National Guard troops fired into crowds of unarmed students at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four — two were not even demonstrating; one was a ROTC cadet and another was on her way to class.

The uproar that followed these senseless killings swept across the country like a tsunami and created a debilitating crisis for the establishment, Nixon’s administration and America’s higher education system. I know. I spent five years studying what happened that May on over 700 college campuses, and wrote a book about it in 2024 — The May 1970 Rebellion.

By Frances Vinall, Arelis R. Hernández and Maria Sacchetti / Washington Post / Jan. 22, 2026

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo instructs agents and officers that they can enter a person’s home to arrest them without a judicial warrant, a move that immigration lawyers and advocates say violates the Constitution.

The memo was included in a disclosure to senators by Whistleblower Aid, a nonprofit legal organization, based on information provided by two of their clients, government employees who are not named in the document. It requests that lawmakers investigate its claims. The memo was separately shared with The Washington Post and was first reported by the Associated Press.

Several people with direct knowledge confirmed the directive existed but said they did not know whether it was widely shared within the agency.

The policy was issued in May and has been carried out in places such as Texas, the disclosure alleges. The Post could not independently confirm where it has been put into practice.

The memo, signed by Todd M. Lyons, acting director of ICE, gives the agency broad authority to enter homes to arrest immigrants. Officers are instructed that they can use a Form I-205 to force entry into a private residence. A Form I-205 is signed by an immigration enforcement official and authorizes an arrest following a final order of removal.

The last time the president confronted chatter about the 25th Amendment, it was in the immediate aftermath of Jan. 6.

Here is text of message Trump sent to Norway’s leader:

Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a ‘right of ownership’ anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT

By  Steve Benen/ MS Now / Jan. 20, 2026

It was a message that might as well have been written in crayon. A day after Donald Trump announced new tariffs on several European countries — economic penalties that would remain in place, he said, until his demands to acquire Greenland were met — the president sent a truly ridiculous message to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, in which the Republican suggested part of his Greenland crusade is rooted in his failure to win a Nobel Peace Prize.

In fact, according to Trump, because Norway hurt his feelings by failing to give him an award he wanted but did not earn, he no longer feels “an obligation to think purely of Peace.”

In a written statement, Støre said that he’s tried to explain to Trump “on several occasions” that the Norwegian government is not responsible for the decisions made by the independent Nobel Committee. The American president, however, continues to insist that Støre is lying, that the Norwegian government is secretly in charge of the honors, and that all of this has something to do w

Intro by Rag Staff:

In a speech to House Republicans earlier this month, January, Donald Trump cast the coming midterm elections in existential terms, declaring Democrats would impeach him if they won a majority in Congress. He then supposedly joked about canceling the midterms, but muttered he’d be accused of being a dictator if he did.

But as Patrick Marley and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez report in a sweeping and important piece in the January 12th issue of the Washington Post they assure us that “Trump can’t cancel elections and he lacks the authority to carry out some of his most far-reaching plans because local and state officials oversee elections, rather than the federal government.”

That’s a relief, isn’t it?

But they hammer away: “Trump has already ignored those constraints and signaled he will continue to do so, which means courts will probably have to determine what rules are in place for the midterm elections.” With the way courts operate, that’s downright scary.

To make their case, the reporters checked out documents and interviewed more than three dozen election officials and experts over the past year “at how Trump and the administration are trying to reshape how the midterm elections will be conducted.” Check the following out, it’s extremely important that we citizens grok what they’re doing — but remember these reporters work for Jeff Bezos, a Trump billionaire supporter who owns the Post, so they’ve also minced their words (which means things are even worse).

Here are the key methods:

Pushing states to redraw House districts

What has Trump done? Trump pressed GOP leaders in several states to take the unusual step of redrawing their congressional maps for partisan gain in the middle of the decade. Ordinarily, states draw new maps once every 10 years, after the census is completed.
Where is it happening? Republicans made nine districts more favorable for themselves across Ohio, Missouri, North Carolina and Texas and are considering redrawing districts in Florida.

What does this mean? If successful, Republicans could gain enough seats to protect their thin House majority, even if Democrats have a good year and pick up other seats. Republicans lead the chamber 218-213, and a handful of races could determine control after 2026.

By Brad Reed / Common Dreams / Jan. 14, 2026

A broad coalition of Minneapolis labor unions and community organizations is calling for a general strike to take place next week with the goal of forcing federal immigration agents to leave their city.

According to a report by Workday Magazine, the groups announced their plans on Tuesday to create a day of “no work, no school, no shopping” on Friday, January 23.

JaNaé Bates Imari, representative of the church Camphor Memorial UMC, said that next Friday would be “a day when every single Minnesotan who loves this state—who loves the idea of truth and freedom—will refuse to work, shop, and go to school.”

“We are asking every single person, every family member, every teacher, every bus driver, every childcare worker, to come together, to be in community, to stand with one another,” Bates Imari added.